"the People's Paths!" Cherokee News Path - Cherokees Open Collinsville Tag Office

"Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Chad Smith (center with scissors) joins with Tribal Council members Buel Anglen and Bill Johnson, as well as Cherokee Nation Tax Commission administrator Sharon Swepston and other community officials and leaders to open the new Cherokee Nation Tag Office in Collinsville."

COLLINSVILLE, OKLAHOMA - Cherokee citizens can now purchase Cherokee Nation vehicle tags at a new office in Collinsville. The office, which opened September 26, is the third opened in outlying districts to better serve Cherokee citizens in obtaining car tags.

This year, more than 19,000 vehicles have been tagged with Cherokee Nation license plates, bringing in revenue of nearly $7 million. In Tulsa and Washington counties alone, over 2,000 vehicles have Cherokee Nation tags, representing revenue of more than $800,000 in revenue.

Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Chad Smith said the tag office is a way to help the Cherokee citizens as well as a way for the tribe to exercise its sovereignty.

“We’re delighted we’ve been received so well here in the area. This office will be positive for our citizens as well as a positive for the community here. It is one of the partnerships that pays off.”

The Cherokee Nation uses 38 percent of all revenues generated from car tag sales to support public school donations to school districts within the tribe’s 14-county jurisdictional boundaries. Tag revenue is donated only to those schools whose district lines are within tribal jurisdiction, since the Cherokees only sell tags to its citizens who live within jurisdictional boundaries. Over the past six years, the tribe has donated more than $6 million to schools. The schools are able to use the funds where needed, and benefit all students, both Cherokee citizens and non-Cherokees alike. At this time, the Cherokee Nation is the only Indian nation to return car tag monies to schools.

Tribal Council member Buel Anglen said he was pleased the tribe now had a tag office in Collinsville, noting that it was the support of the Cherokee citizens in the area that made it happen.

Tribal Council member Bill Johnson agreed, noting that the community of Collinsville has been supportive of the Cherokee Nation.

Karen Walls, Director of the Motor Vehicles for the CNTC, said she expects a lot of new customers to utilize the Collinsville location because of the convenience.

“Citizens near the Kansas border and in other northern areas may not have registered their vehicles with us due to time and distance constraints,” Walls said. “We hope this will make it easier for these citizens to get their tags.”